Escalation: Brass Scorpion Review

Following last week's article on the Lord of Skulls, I've decided to follow it up with another Chaos super heavy, the Brass Scorpion.

What does it do?

First and foremost, the Brass Scorpion is a brutal combat machine.  It lacks the Destroyer melee attacks that the Lord of Skulls has, but instead, it has a solid base of 6 attacks.  That alone isn't the scary part... This multi-legged terror has an astounding D3+2 stomp attacks!  That is potentially 5 blasts squashing through everything it touches.  To make matters worse, it charges 3D6"!  Holy smokes, this thing is fast, with an average charge range of 22".  The last thing that makes this a nightmare to face is that it adds 2 to the Catastrophic Damage table, basically ensuring the doom of anything that does finally manage to fell it in combat.

So because this is a super heavy, it has a variety of methods of slaughtering infantry, so don't worry about only fighting in combat.  It's tail houses a modest 10 shot gun at S6 AP3, and it's face-mounted Soulburner cannon is a demolisher cannon that re-rolls to wound and ignores cover.  Lastly, it's weaker guns are a pair of S6 Ap3 template weapons (standard, not hellfire).

How do I kill it?

This monster is a bit tougher than the Lord of Skulls, sporting a front armor of 14, and unlike most other walkers, it's actually amazing to get in combat and quite fast.  Since it does lack destroyer melee attacks though, monsters are slightly safer in combat (though, it can still roll a 6 to stomp).  Engaging this monster at range is going to be tricky because it can close the gap so quickly, but unfortunately that's the prime time to kill it.  If you manage to land a couple destroyer shots on it, you can hopefully blow it up in the enemy deployment zone, causing a catastrophic explosion.  Swamping it in combat might also work, particularly if it rolls poorly on it's stomps, or if the models are a significant challenge to kill (such as TH/SS terminators).

As a note, do not use psychic powers on this beast, as it automatically causes Perils of the Warp on any psyker that targets it (friend or foe).

What's the verdict?

This is probably my favorite Chaos super heavy, and it's also the least expensive one they have access to